Mike's '82 Mk1 Golf GTI

After fiddling around with fitment:








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Front And Rear the Same Size?


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After this, the build became a little serious. I was picking up my brother up from his girlfriends house one day and spotted a black mk1 GTI parked up outside a house around the corner from mine and had to park up and have a look.



I got chatting to the owner and he asked if I wanted to go for a spin.. On the drive out, it went like stink and sounded even better. Jim then told me about all the work he had done himself, it was a 20vt running shy of 230bhp on a k03s turbo. I decided at this point that I needed this in my life.





He told me he did a conversion on his lads mk2 golf too, another 20vt but with a k04 turbo running roughly 270bhp. I asked what it would take to get mine to the same standard and he said he could help.. I took my mk1 to his unit a few weeks after and that's when the work took off.



In the upcoming few weeks I did a lot of research to see what I needed and asked a fair amount of questions. I then started stripping the engine down ready for the transplant:







All kinds of bolts were rusty and were shearing. These were off the downpipe and were a pig to get off, if I remember right, 4 out of 6 sheared..



A couple of hours passed and it was out:









Tucked back away in the corner until all parts for conversion are gathered:





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figti said

Yes Silver is mostly hard to paint.. But Yours Looks awesome..

Reg Kevin


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Thanks mate!


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figti said

Front And Rear the Same Size?


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No, the fronts are 7J and rears are 8.


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I bought some AP coilovers next off a friend to try and ease the bumps from the old eBay special ones, I fitted these with my bro and put the old wheels on to save ruining my freshly polished RSL's whilst in the unit.

Old coilover:



New ones:



One of the top mounts on the new coilies decided to be mean:



Quick test:



Whilst stockpiling parts and info over the next few months I decided to buy the donor car and a new toy to keep me from boredom whilst the mk1 was engine-less:





My fleet:



The donor is a mk4 golf gti, 1.8 20vt AGU with the larger ports. I probably won't be running any big power through this but it's nice to know i have the potential if needed. I picked it up for £750 and ran it for a few weeks to make sure it was sound.

My new toy, the cupra r, was bought off a friend, Stage 2 20vt running roughly 290bhp with all the supporting mods, spent a fair amount of mk1 money on this when I got it to put my mark on it a bit.

The East Midlands Rep, Mits, my friend Jims mk1 and my cupra r, again @vwchlo_ on the camera:



The strip down of the mk4 began and I started breaking/selling a lot of parts off of it:





Engine strip down began:



And it's out:





Massive thanks to Jim and my Dad for helping get this lump out.

All money made from breaking the mk4 has gone into buying conversion parts to try and keep the cost down!

Mk1 under cover snug and Mk4 feeling sorry for itself:



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Earlier on this year, myself and a group of mates took a drive over to Germany for a brief trip on the autobahn's and Nurburgring, this gave me a good chance to give the Cupra R a run for its money!





On return, the mrs wanted a new daily, what better choice than another old Golf?



Spent a few weeks helping her with this, getting it tip top and running good.
Porsche Cookie Cutters and Adaptors:







A well needed polish down the unit:



Jim's mk1 and Chlo's mk2:



First MFN:



And she's low, where she should be!







Anyway, back to my mk1…



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Purchased a straight through 2.5" stainless exhaust made for mk1 20vt's from Trackslag and the k03 downpipe from qPeng.



Took all my wiring down to Vagtronics in Stoke:





Got it back with instructions on how to wire up :



Mounts arrived from Retrofication, specially welded to fit a 20vt block in a mk1:



Q-drive driveshafts and 100mm cups to fit to gearbox:







Boost pipes/silicone hoses and intercooler:





VR6 kevlar clutch with G60 lightened and balanced flywheel:



The parts pile:



These are all the main parts I have bought to carry out the conversion, I might have missed a few bits but it's all there.

Accelerator cable, mk3 cambelt tensioner, new belts, slimline fan, new engine mounts (60mm and 74mm) are all amongst the pile along with a few extras.


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Centre console all out to make way for the new gear linkage:





Old one off:



Tidy up of new engine, changing belts/gaskets and water pump, also had to butcher the cambelt cover a little to make it fit properly:





The cambelt tensioner had to be spaced out around 8mm for the conversion:



Engine mount on:



Putting the new clutch/flywheel on:







The next step was getting the 20vt in:



Had to be swayed in at a difficult angle:







Like it was meant to be there…







All in.
As you can see it's not an overly clean build but once the engine is all in and I've sorted the interior out I will come back to it and clean it up. I just want it all running for now!

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I was at the mk1 agm last weekend and I got to put many names to faces which was awesome. Seen some amazing mk1's and met some brilliant people.

Dub Foundation/East Mids Camp:



My favourite mk1 of the weekend, although not a 20vt!








On the drive out in a friends cabby:



Managed to purchase some s1 wing mirrors and south african spec lights whilst there so I should be able to run my next surprise…





the GTI Heckblende!



I also have a Zender spoiler for the tailgate too but I don't have a picture at the moment.

I'm taking a trip down to Devon this weekend to pick up my next side project which I've just put my deposit on :



BBS RS189's! My favourite wheels, need a fair bit of work but should keep me occupied over the winter months. These will be immaculate!


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rw@@dy29 said

MikeBott93 said

rw@@dy29 said

What coilovers were they mate?

They were TA Technix mate with Febi top mounts, they were horrendous, the mrs has them on her mk1 now haha


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Oh dear! I need to replace mine so just looking at what to get! Car looks great by the way

Don't buy eBay specials! I really rate AP coilies now, I have them on my Cupra R and my Mk1, they're the perfect crossover for UK roads imo.

Nice one Mike

Can't wait to see this all done and on the road


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P0jy said

Nice one Mike

Can't wait to see this all done and on the road


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Shouldn't be long now mate!


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Nice thread, nice MK1  

Lovely t-shirt tan!  

Hairyarse said

Nice thread, nice MK1  

Lovely t-shirt tan!  

Haha, was bad!
Thanks mate.


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So, some more work today!

Had the bottom half of the dash out to start the wiring:



Noticed quite a lot of dodgy wiring/relays under the dash and around the battery area in my mk1, all gutted out now though, had to have the brake servo out too as some of the wiring in the engine bay was trapped behind the mounts for it. (??)

Started plugging in all the engine half, mounted intercooler (can just about see it through where the grill should be) and fitted a new oil dipstick (old one was brittle and had snapped):



Trimmed away a good portion of un-needed wiring:



Plugged a lot of pipework in too using Jims mk1 as a template:



The most rotten bit of joiner ever (plucked from heater matrix pipework):



Gear linkage took from the mk4 gti donor, all ready to go in:



Had some trouble sourcing some silicone hose and ally joiners that can go from my exhaust manifold to the intercooler but got in touch with Derby Performance Hoses (20 miles down the road) and they're making some up for me, they're also doing my radiator hoses.

I planned to get my downpipe and exhaust on today but the local Parkers didn't have the gasket to join the turbo to downpipe. I've had to order it and it should be with me on Monday.
I only get the chance to work on the mk1 on Saturdays so I can't make any progress on this until then.

All of the sensors are plugged in now, as well as the starter motor, alternator and anything else engine bay related. All I've got to do wiring-wise is sort out my little fusebox that Vagtronics made up for me, this needs to be mounted on my drivers side dashboard.

I really recommend Vagtronics if you are choosing standard management for your mk1 20vt conversion, the instructions given with the new wiring have been straight forward and everything seems to fit in place nicely so far.

My new hoses should be here mid week too so I should finish the intercooler plumbing, drivers side fusebox and the downpipe/exhaust next weekend, fingers crossed! Then the fan/radiator can go in too. Small custom L shape brackets hold the intercooler, radiator and fan in place.

All coming together now and the parts pile is getting smaller..



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Drove to Devon today to collect my RS's, they're exactly what I expected and I do have my work cut out for the rebuild this winter but it'll be so worth it!



Stopped off in Weston-super-mare on the way home as the weather was nice!





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Hoses have just arrived from DPH. Good news they all look brilliant quality and will work fine. Bad news, they're in BLUE when I asked for RED. (Says R on the receipt!)
Tried to call them up to no answer, will give them another go tomorrow and see what we can do about it.
Looks like I'll have to stick to blue now for the time being as I only get weekends to tinker with the mk1…




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Had a nightmare day working on the mk1 on Saturday! Got the old girl on the ramp to fit the exhaust.
The downpipe and its gasket fitted fine without any adjustment:



Went to fit the exhaust on and it was about a foot to short between the downpipe and centre box, gutted to say the least.
Drove around every parts shop/garage that was open in my town that sell automotive parts and couldn't get a piece of 2.5" sleeve to join them. Luckily a friend has some in his garage but can't get it to me until in the week. Got some clamps to join them too.

A friend who has a 20vt Mk2 Golf came down to the unit to help mock up how my intercooler is going to be with my new hoses. It's going to be difficult as I will have to cut the metal pipework from the original car down a little to then join it to a long bit of ally going down the passenger side, it's going to be very tight but after looking at a few other peoples conversions it should look a little something like this:



I took the above photo at the AGM, if anyone knows who's this is, I wouldn't mind speaking to them about it!

To do this I will also need to relocate my battery to the boot (yay). I've never done this before so should be fun. Got the wires sorted, just need to get my bottom in gear to do it!

With this in mind, I have spoken to a friend who does boot builds, had a chat and I'm going to do away with my rear bench and have a carpeted false floor hiding the battery and will have a tidy 12" integrated subwoofer cut out in the wood. I've bought my sub and amp so now just need the wood and carpet and I can get underway with that too, this will probably be another job for the winter.

I didn't even get a chance to fiddle with the wiring further, which is a shame as I'm about done, just need to finish the dashboard side (soldering up the new fusebox).

On a positive note, I got hold of DPH and they have said if I drop off the old blue hoses they will re-do them in red for me and will make me up another 90 degree bit for the intercooler.

So.. A not so productive weekend but have a lot more ideas on how I'm going to do it all.

Took a trip down to the VW Festival with the east mids mk1 club (Dub Foundation) yesterday, had a brilliant day, the standard of cars was impeccable. Not as many mk1's as I imagined though!



Feel a bit left out not being in a mk1, shouldn't be long now..




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A half productive day today.

The bit of exhaust didn't fit over the downpipe so i'm still short there but i've raised, cleaned and fitted my RSL's to it:



I've also about cracked the wiring into the dash now too, got the fusebox in, just need to mount it along with the fuses.

Was dead mucky so didn't take a lot of pictures..

I went down to DPH and picked up my new hoses and fittings, they look decent. I chopped up my ally joining pipes and connected them all up, they're going to fit fine, just need to make some L brackets to hang the intercooler on.

This was the pipe I hacked up, it was the original one off the mk4 GTI, this should suffice:



Next week I'm going to mount the rad, intercooler and fan and pipe all that up.
Should also finish the soldering in the dash too and if I can find some exhaust sleeve about a foot long to go over my downpipe to centre section, I'll do that too.

So close now..




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